Written Answers Tuesday 27 February 2007

Scottish Executive

Dentistry

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the British Dental Association.

Lewis Macdonald: I last met with the British Dental Association on 30 January 2007. Officials meet quarterly with the British Dental Association and last met them on 1 February 2007.

First Minister

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the First Minister’s visit to London during the week beginning 5 February 2007 was in his official capacity and, if so, whether it will provide a breakdown of the costs of the visit, also showing the (a) people he met and (b) subject areas covered at each meeting.

Mr Tom McCabe: The First Minister met the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Scotland during his visit to London on 7 February 2007. In those discussions he discussed issues raised during the recent meeting of the Financial Services Advisory Board, of which he is chair, and other matters.

  In addition to these official discussions, the First Minister also had a number of private meetings.

  The First Minister flew to London at a cost of £144 and returned on the Caledonian Sleeper at a cost of £145.

Forestry

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it is providing to protect Scotland’s trees and woodlands such as the Fortingall Yew and Meikleour beech hedge.

Sarah Boyack: One of Forestry Commission Scotland’s (FCS) key responsibilities is to protect Scotland’s trees, woods and forests. This is mainly administered through felling permissions, long-term forest plans and direct grant-aid for forest establishment and management through grant incentives such as the Scottish Forestry Grants Scheme.

  Heritage trees within woodlands can be supported and protected as part of an FCS grant scheme or through regulatory permissions. Individual trees of particularly high amenity value can also be protected by Tree Preservation Orders which are issued by local planning authorities. There are also local initiatives supported by FCS, which promote the importance of high value heritage trees. For example, the FCS inventory of Scotland’s heritage trees led to the publication Heritage Trees of Scotland, which features both the Fortingall Yew and the Meikleour Beech Hedge. The "Perthshire Big Tree Country" initiative - a £1.8 million project delivered via Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust to which FCS has contributed around £600,000 through the Scottish Forestry Grant Scheme – is helping to safeguard the future of heritage trees in Perthshire.

Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Coproxamol will continue to be obtainable on prescription in Scotland.

Lewis Macdonald: Licensing of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

  The agency has advised that Coproxamol is being phased out of the market gradually to give patients time to discuss their treatment with their doctor and change to a suitable alternative. Continued provision of Coproxamol through normal prescribing may continue until the cancellation of the licences at the end of 2007. Following cancellation of the licences there will be scope for the prescription of unlicensed Coproxamol. There is clear provision in legislation which gives the right to the prescriber to prescribe off-label or unlicensed medicines when this is judged to be in the best interests of the patient.

  So where there is a clear clinical need, it will still be possible to prescribe Coproxamol but in a way that is more targeted, with a stronger focus on the risk:benefit judgment for the particular patient, and involvement of the patient in the decision.

Health

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects a decision to be made on the approval of Lucentis for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.

Mr Andy Kerr: Lucentis® (ranibizumab) was approved on 22 January 2007 by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA). The Scottish Medicines Consortium have this therapy on their work programme and a recommendation is anticipated from them in the next few months.

Historic Sites

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to protect Ardoch Roman Fort.

Patricia Ferguson: The Ardoch Fort complex is currently being rescheduled to extend the protected area to the north and west in order to protect all Roman remains visible as crop marks on aerial photographs.

  Whilst on-going management of the site is the responsibility of the owner, the 1979 act does not impose any obligation on the owner of a monument to maintain it. Historic Scotland can and does offer grants to owners for works that benefit a monument. Recently, several grants have been given to support the better management of the site, and to allow it to be appreciated as a single entity.

  The current greatest single problem is a recurrence of rabbit infestation. Between August 2005 and March 2006, rabbit proof fencing was erected around the site, jointly funded by a Rural Stewardship Scheme application and a Historic Scotland grant. It is hoped that this barrier, combined with a program of night shooting, will reduce the number of rabbits in the fort in coming years. Historic Scotland officials continue to be closely involved in this case and visit the site regularly.

  An erosion survey of the fort is currently being undertaken. This will complement the erosion survey which took place in 1997, and provide information on the stability of the monument over a 10 year period.

NHS Staff

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of service in the NHS has been of existing (a) executive directors, (b) senior managers, (c) middle managers, (d) consultant medical staff and (e) nurses.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information is not centrally available on the average length of service of staff in NHS Scotland. Centrally held data provides the date of commencement of employees within their current NHS board area but does not provide their total length of service in the NHS.

  Further information on the statistics, including information on how the data are collected and notes to aid interpretation, is given in the Background Notes document on the Workforce Statistics homepage at http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Olympic Games

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-31407 by Patricia Ferguson on 13 February 2007, whether it has made any representations to the UK Government on the implications for sports projects, such as the 50-metre swimming pool for Aberdeen, if sports lottery funding is diverted to pay for additional costs of the London 2012 Olympic Games and, if so, what the outcome was.

Patricia Ferguson: Scottish ministers have a good working relationship with their UK counterparts and will continue to engage constructively with them to maximise the benefits of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for Scotland and to minimise the impact of any reduction in lottery funding for sport and the other good causes.

  We have already secured the agreement of the UK Government that Scotland’s share of the £340 million Lottery Sports Fund contribution towards the games funding package will be retained and spent in Scotland on Scotland’s elite athletes.

Road Safety

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking, unilaterally or in conjunction with the Home Office, to develop a roadside device to screen those suspected of driving while under the influence of drugs.

Cathy Jamieson: Policy and legislation on driving whilst under the influence of drugs is reserved.

  Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB) is developing a roadside screening device to detect drug drivers. Once that process is complete the device will require type approval by UK ministers before it can be used for enforcement purposes. The type approval process is overseen by the Home Office led Drink Drug Drive Working Group (DDDWG) at which Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is represented.

Scottish Natural Heritage

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities may use compulsory purchase orders to buy land owned by Scottish Natural Heritage for the sites of new schools.

Sarah Boyack: Local authorities may use compulsory purchase orders under the Acquisition of Land Act 1947 to buy land owned by Scottish Natural Heritage.